I have titled this post in Spanish ” Caminito de Totana” ( In the little road to Totana) as the song by Camaron de la Isla, the biggest ever flamenco singer.

The way from Quemao Viejo to Totana is a winding mountain road of about twenty miles. As many corners as it can get! A road surrounded by vineyards, pine, almond, olive and orange trees and plenty of wild fauna encounters. A lovely short trip to be done slowly to appreciate its beauty. The road is not in the best of the conditions, but for me this is part of the beaty as it makes it less busy.

In this trip, one can stop for a wonder in the medieval village of Aledo or stop at the Sanctuary of Santa Eulalia, a little gem enclosed in a pine tree forest; the religious pinnacle for Totana, where its people pilgrimage once a year to celebrate their cultural traditions, the love to their land and to show their respect and religious fervour for the Virgen Santa Eulalia, in their “romeria“, the 7th of January. This day thousands of paellas are cooked outdoors, gallons and gallons of wine drunk and trillions of tradicional folk songs sung ( I may be exagerating, but not that much!)

So, this post is about “La Santa” the local name for the sanctuary.

General view of the sanctuary:

Front side of the chuch in the sanctuary:

Interior of the church. Its baroque altarpiece, mudejarcoffered ceiling and mural paintings from the S. XVII make this little church one of the most valuable monuments whitin the artistic heritage of the Region of Murcia :

Image source: Region de Murcia Digital

Detail of the buildings beside the churh, with its caracteristic red color, brought by the tipe of soil used for its building, which is rich in clay.

In a hill by the monastery there is this representation of Jesus ” El corazon de Jesus” which could reach fifteen meters high, with masive views over a valley.

Along the road that takes to the above statue, there are many statues representing a Via Crucis ( stations of the cross), like this one:

Finally, after your little religious and cultural stop, you would reach the city of Totana, which I hope to cover in a future extended post.